Who’s crying now? Creamery wins legal fight over spilt skim milk

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A family-owned creamery in the Florida Panhandle took on the state and won, after refusing to label its natural skim milk as imitation.

Ocheesee Creamery got into a dispute with the State Agriculture Department about five years ago over its skim milk, according to attorney Justin Pearson,  because it refuses to add vitamin supplements. Under Florida’s definition, skim milk must have vitamins A and D added after the cream is removed, he said.

A federal appeals court ruled that, while the imitation label is a little extreme and inaccurate, some kind of label must be created to alert consumers that they are getting a different product than other skim milk sold on store shelves.

During the labeling protest, the creamery dumped gallons of its skim milk down a drain.

“They refused to lie to their customers,” said Pearson.

This milk is sold on their farm in Grand Ridge, Florida and in stores in Marianna, Greenwood, Malone, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Seaside and across the panhandle.